SkyKing

I plan to dabble with everyone in CS2, just for the information aspect. Since Platinum is a new character, so much more can be discovered. I, personally, won't be playing her too much, but I know my brother will and that's enough reason for me to try out stuff with her. Platinum does look fun as hell though. Also, if you are too concerned about Platinum gaining too much popularity because of one player, then just remember that most of the time they are playing an XCOPY version of that character. Being a main means continuing to use her and finding new things to use, and not just playing the auto-pilot way to winning (or losing).

All of Noel's normals have been buffed. The extent of those buffs we aren't sure yet until someone can confirm to us what those are. Theoretically speaking, 2A looks like it has been given a hitbox buff, and also seems to come out faster than CS1. Seems like Rachel's 2A in that regard.

We actually have a decent burst bait combo, although it's still really hard to do it as Noel.

With each iteration, Noel becomes even more stylish with the way she handles regular and Chain Revolver combos. Being able to Optic Barrel in the middle of combos gives her an easier link into 6C than Spring Raid did in CS1. I'll surely miss those mid-screen SR combos though, since they were what made her achieve really nice damage if you weren't near a wall.

Noel Vermillion CS2 Combo Video #2 - Trigger Happy

Welcome to Blazblue and the Noel boards! Since your interested in Noel, I suggest going into her tutorial and challenge modes to understand how her game works by looking at how the demonstration does her combos. In CS1, she is a character that relies heavily on understanding what your opponent is doing, and reading, reacting, and punishing. For starters, you'll be up close to your opponent a lot, so learn how you want to attack by experimenting with her regular attacks. Chain Revolver, her drive attacks, all have different invulnerable frames and areas. Also, her drive attacks put you into a special state that have another set of moves that otherwise aren't accessible from normal stance, but in exchange you can't block. Her combos will all lead into this state, and you will finish combos with one of the drive finishers. We have a fair amount of player for both systems, so you'll be good to go on that. Just check the directory thread for the other players' XBL tags.

This matchup basically boils down to who can make the most out of their reads. Understanding what works and what doesn't work in here is even more important because the potential damage you can be taking is incredibly high, along with the fact that she can punish herself quite well and quite often with her drives. For the most part, stay defensive and analyze what the other Noel is trying to do. If she's very aggressive, then use the appropriate normals to punish with, and the appropriate drives to invuln through obvious patterns, such as 5Ding through CR strings, or 2Ding over her lows/6Bs/throw attempts. If the Noel also plays out the reaction game, test what sort of read she is trying to get, and possibly beat it out with your own or baiting out an attempted invuln read. If they understand how to manuever during CR strings to avoid being punished, then just wait it out until she finishes her strings, and make sure to know how to block them. There are some auto-pilot CR strings to look out for since some players will continue the string as if it comboed, instead of hit-confirming the starter, such as 5D/2D > d.6A > d.6C. You can 5D through the d.6A, and 2D over the d.6C. Just watch out for possible anti-punish strategies like being Spring Raided or Assault Throughed. Also, some other punishes I like to do are CH 5B/5C > 3C if you block their 3C depending on the distance, and using 6A against jump-ins (although still very risky). After understanding the other Noel's gameplan, just work on maximizing your damage output to give yourself the much needed wall carry and life lead. Noel's back-to-corner game isn't very strong until she gains 50 Heat, to which she can turn the tides on you with her Counter Assault. You can also do the same, but make sure to pick your spots. If she can guess where to punish your CA, then she can very easily put you back in the corner with a devastating combo that will net her the Heat for corner Fenrir finishes and Heat for CA if she needs it.

Pretty much, except we still don't have concrete numbers to decide which is optimal yet. It sure looks like it, though.

Incoming Bolverk Shower! Seji (Taokaka) vs. Yuuki (Noel) Yuuki (Noel) vs. YAMA (Rachel) Noel vs. Litchi Makoto vs. Noel Platinum vs. Noel Lambda-11 vs. Noel Another Noel Mirror!?!? Noel vs. Jin Noel vs. Hazama GUCCI (Noel) vs. Jin GUCCI (Noel) vs. VER (Arakune)

Saki (Makoto) vs. R-1 (Noel) Noel Mirrors, FINALLY!!! (???? vs. R-1) Haida Variation!!

A-cho Eco-mode: kuma (Noel) vs. Galileo (Litchi) Memory of Tears: kuma vs. kuyaki(?) - 2B whiff and d.6A whiff in the same combo!!

GAME41 Noze (Hazama) vs. R-1 (Noel) Part 1 Part 2A Part 2B

Bang vs. Yuu (Noel) Makoto vs. Yuu (Noel) KARMA (Noel) vs. zanzan (Bang) Hitotose (Hazama) vs. Yuu (Noel)

02/14 Game Chariot - Jin Birthday Tournament (NO AUDIO) Ryo-ta (Bang) vs GUCCI (Noel) GUCCI (Noel) vs. Ko-ji (Ragna) Buppa (Jin) vs. GUCCI (Noel)

It's gotta be an attack that angled up, I'm guessing?

Just ask around. My friend had the same dilemma here, since he accidentally ordered 2 copies from different times of the year. He was able to find someone also hype for the game.

I'm one of these guys. :3 I have her as my anchor. Just stocking up the meters and go to town with Astral Vision shenanigans. Also, Shadow Servant > XFC > Darkness Illusion is such a sexy combo!

My friend plays Wesker/Dormammu/Doom and he got pretty far in the tournament here. Dormammu's S-attack works wonders against air-dashers since the hitbox is really high and it lasts for quite a long time. He's also benefits from an easy air-combo > KD > OTG special > Super that does really big damage.

Nice. I also started with KOF since my uncle owned a Neo Geo. I've held local tournaments for KOF at the arcade I used to work at, so I'm really hoping to start it up again if XIII comes around. As for MvC3, all the players in my area play on 360, so I may end up practicing with them. I'll get both eventually. And the 360 gets a more spread of players since that's what most people have. PSN has really good players, but you'll hit an insane pocket of bad players before you get to good ones. Either way, just play with people who you know are good, and use the others as a way to experiment.

Oh man, if that hits, then I'm probably not gonna play anything else for a while... Anyway, seems like 360 is where everyone is going to get MvC3, so I may also do that. I'll get both eventually.

Man, power outage impeding my progression of this game. Also, I think the connection problems I had last night were a sign of things to come. Also, GGs to everyone is Chaos_Kalibur's room last night. I noticed my internet randomly dropping, and my house was hella cold yesterday with no heater + coldsnap.

Ok, I think I'm gonna stick with default Thunder Saki. Thunder supers fit my style of play, and just gotta work on the clash DP reactions.

I'm down. I played some matches yesterday, and AH3 system is making a noob out of me. Stupid free homing dashes... I just gotta get used to it I guess.

OK, finally got my copy in since I did ghetto shipping. I've been itching to play some people, so now I'm good to go. Please, be gentle... :P